CO-EM.42.

50 Pence

Viking Longship, Isle of Man

1984

Copper Nickel

The reverse features a lumphad (a one-masted galley) within a scrolled shield. The galley’s prow is carved like the head of a dragon, the tail of the dragon is carved at the sternpost. The scrolled shield is a heraldic theme that alludes to the 500th anniversary of the incorporation by King Richard III in 1484 of the College of Arms, the college of royal heralds that grants coats-of-arms. The London headquarters of the College of Arms is in the Derby House that was once the town-house of the Earls of Derby who were the Lords of Mann. (Later the Dukes of Atholl were the Lords of Mann, until the lordship was bought by the United Kingdom government for the Crown in 1765.)